Chaos Chao and Good Wishes
by meowthecat
Summary: A classic video game tale is retold with Sonic characters to a group of young Chao. (And anyone else who happens to stop by.)
1. An Old Story Told Anew

A/N: This isn't my first fanfic, but it's one of the first. As such, I'd love it if you guys could review and critique it, but if you just want to read it, that's fine too!

(Also, this has been somewhat edited from the original that came out four years ago. I've improved since then, and I don't want the change in quality from this chapter to the next to be too jarring. :P)

Anyways, on with the show! Can you guess what stories the different Chao are requesting?

Disclaimer: I do not own any franchise that makes mention in this story. They all belong to Sega or Nintendo.

Also: _Italics is Chao speak and thoughts._

ooo

Chaos Chao and Good Wishes

By meowthecat

ooo

Chapter 1

An Old Story Told Anew

ooo

"_Why don't you tell us a story, Auntie?"_

"_Yes! All of us, the hatchlings especially, would love to hear another story from you."_

"_If I may make a suggestion, I found the story about the courageous warrior clad in green who goes on a quest to save his land and his wise princess from a powerful man to be most interesting."_

"_That story was boring! Tell us the one about the plumber who saves the princess from the evil turtle!"_

"_Don't call his favorite story boring! I liked that one… but if it's okay with everyone, I'd rather listen to the one about the pink warrior who flies on a star. Let's ask our storytellers and see what they think first."_

"_As one of the official storytellers, I think we should listen to the one about the two children who go to the land of dreams, meet up with a nightmare monster who turns to good, and save the realm from nightmares."_

"…_I think we should listen to Chaos Chao and Good Wishes."_

The last suggestion was met by a groan from every Chao in the group except for the one who had suggested it in the first place. Their aunt (the head "official storyteller"), who had been listening to the Chao speak, asked,

"Why _don't _we listen to Chaos Chao and Good Wishes?"

The Chao who had suggested the above story, Calm, said nothing but simply smiled at his aunt in thanks.

"_Pardon me, Auntie,"_ Clev the storyteller Chao interjected, _"but I find Chaos Chao and Good Wishes to be too simplistic."_

"_I agree with Clev,"_ said Missy, who was the Chao who'd wanted the story about the pink star rider.

"_Yeah! That story's boring too!"_ whined Muscle, who was the Chao who'd wanted the story about the plumber.

"Really?" asked their auntie with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "What if it wasn't so boring _this_ time?"

"_I fail to see how a fairy tale could not be boring at any time,"_ School, the Chao who had wanted the legend of the green warrior, said with derision.

"_Also, the hatchlings need to get to bed soon. The sun is going down,"_ remarked Mammy, the self-appointed big sister of the group.

"_Hmm…_" pondered Oldie, the self-appointed big brother of the group. "_I've got it! Perhaps we should listen to the old story, after all. At the very least it'll put the hatchlings to bed by nighttime."_ He chuckled.

Mammy agreed, and all the Chao sat down to listen to Auntie tell the same old boring story one more time. Several of them began to nod off before the story began. Others pouted in frustration.

Auntie took her book- which she had brought today for this purpose- and sat down. "Today…" she began, "I'm going to tell the story of Chaos Chao and Good Wishes."

She opened the book to the first page. The page depicted an indigo island above the clouds and surrounded by stars. Some structures could be seen on it. "Far, far away, beyond the sky, way above the clouds, it's been said that there's a haven where some Chao live."

She turned the page, revealing a picture of a structure surrounded by fountains and water. The structure was supported by several columns and topped by a beautiful blue dome. An opening could be seen leading inside. "In the sanctuary of Chao Haven, there rest fabled treasures called the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, which have the power to grant all wishes."

She turned the page again. This image was inside the blue sanctuary, and showed a giant green emerald hovering in the center of the room. In the background, two smaller red and light blue emeralds could be seen floating above separate pedestals. Two Chaos Chao, red and light blue respectively, floated above their matching emeralds. "This is because-"

"_The Servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power enriched by the Heart. The Server serves to unify the Chaos,"_ recited School, looking sufficiently proud of himself.

"Very good," replied Auntie, and gave School a kind look. "But-"

"_Yeah, yeah, we all know that,"_ Muscle whined, earning himself a nasty look from School. _"We've all heard this story before! It's so boring!"_

"Ah-ah! Wait until I finish, Muscle!"

"_Oh! Sorry, Auntie."_ he replied.

"And I was about to remind you not to interrupt too, School."

"_I won't do it again, Auntie_," the other Chao said.

"But it was very good that you remembered the chant. Now where was I?" Auntie asked. "Ah. Here!"

"Using these wondrous Emeralds, the seven revered Chaos Chao watched over our peaceful world carefully… very carefully." She turned the page.

"And then… Oh dear… What the…?"

Several of the Chao now began to perk up. This was different!

Taped onto the page, which showed more of the Chaos Emeralds and their respective Chaos Chao, was a robotic blue hedgehog with piercing red eyes. "Who taped that weird thing into the story?" Auntie asked, seemingly oblivious. She then ducked behind her book as a strange voice began to speak…

"Oh ho ho! Yes! I did! Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

Now the Chao, who were all wide awake, began to get scared. Who could have such an evil laugh?

"So I can, at long last, beat my archenemy, Sonic," continued the evil voice, "I'll take these Emeralds!" The page turned, but the Chao were so focused on the story that they didn't notice that they were still being read to from a book anymore…

"Do it, Metal Sonic!" The robot, now in front of the red emerald and Chaos Chao, began to run around and cause general mayhem and destruction. A hole was blown in the ceiling of the sanctuary and a grey hovercraft came in bearing a most unusual occupant. He was entirely bald save for a large red-brown moustache that adorned his face under his pink beak-like nose. He wore a pair of goggles strapped to his forehead and a pair of shades that hid his eyes. Completing his outfit was a large red jacket with yellow cuffs and buckles and a very large grey zipper. The overall impression one got of him was that he was shaped very much like an egg.

Metal Sonic grabbed the Master Emerald and presented it to the arriving visitor. "No, you mustn't do that!" said one of the Chaos Chao. All of the Chaos Chao, still atop their emeralds, backed away a little bit.

"Yes!" the red-clad invader exclaimed. "Now let's try using it!"

At that, both Metal Sonic and the Master Emerald began to glow. The robot turned gold and hovered in the air, curling up. Then, he unfurled and released a huge flash of energy! The energy wave engulfed the Chaos Chao and trapped them in their Chaos Emeralds. "Stop it! Cut it out, Dr. Eggman!" another one of the Chaos Chao cried as he was sealed away.

"You're changing the story!" added Auntie as she remained concealed behind the book.

"Oh ho ho ho… We did it!" exclaimed Dr. Eggman. Metal Sonic collected the seven Chaos Emeralds in a ring around him and floated over to his master, who had deployed a claw from his hovercraft that had latched onto and was now carrying the Master Emerald. "That was a piece of cake! Oh ho ho!" The pair then left the empty and now broken sanctuary.

In the real world, the Chao were all huddled together, fearful of what might happen next. _Voice imitation is such a useful skill for a storyteller to have,_ Auntie thought as she closed the book with a tiny look of mischief in her eye. _Now_ they were interested!

"Now hatchling Chao just like you may go to Chao Haven to to bring happiness to everyone…" Auntie said sadly, "…but those wishes will not come true. Whatever can they do… ?"

The Chao sat in stunned silence for a few moments… and then began to clap and cheer loudly.

"_Whoa,"_ said Muscle. _"That. Was. Awesome!"_

"_Yes,"_ said Oldie. _"That was quite a show…"_

"And there's more where that came from," said Auntie excitedly. "There will be action! Romance! And mystery!"

"_But first, we have to go to bed,"_ reminded Mammy. The sun had almost set and was casting long shadows across the Chao Garden. _"Come along, hatchlings!"_

The hatchlings groaned again. But this time, it was because they wanted to hear _more_ of Chaos Chao and Good Wishes.

Auntie smiled and got up to leave. In the back of her mind, she wondered how Dr. Eggman was getting along now…


	2. A Party at the Palais de Creme

A/N: Wow, it's been over two years since I posted the first chapter of this. Things have changed a lot since then, and I'm taking this in a far different direction than I first envisioned all those months ago. However, while the frame story may be changing a lot, the core concept behind the bedtime story remains the same.

I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 2

A Party at the Palais de Crème

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It was going to be an exciting day!

All of the Chao had gathered in the typical spot where the stories were often told. This time, however, it was different. Auntie was returning after an absence, and they couldn't wait to hear the rest of the story that she had promised to tell.

Soon enough, Auntie entered the garden. The Chao all ran up to her in greeting while she took the time to pet each and every one. Eventually, she made her way over to the spot and sat down. All the others gathered around expectantly, waiting for her to pull out the book and restart the story.

But that time never came. _"Auntie," _Oldie asked, _"where IS the old book?"_ His large, white moustache had lengthened during the time Auntie had been away, and he now fiddled with it.

"You could say that we're leaving the book behind," she began. "It's like climbing a mountain you've never climbed before—there needs to be a base camp to start with, but you've got to leave it when you climb up the mountain!"

A base camp! Auntie had told them about it a while back: it was the camp at the bottom of a mountain that climbers planned their journey at before they went up. But, just to be sure, some of the older Chao explained it to the younger ones who either weren't there or might not have remembered.

"Now… we've got to tell the story!" She wagged her finger and winked. In turn, the Chao nodded eagerly.

"The sun was bright and shining…"

ooo

…down on a clearing deep in the woods. In this clearing rested a blue wooden cottage with a yellow door, and above the door hung a large, equally wooden sign that proclaimed the name of its occupants: Sonic and Tails.

Into the clearing lumbered a large purple cat with yellow eyes; a green frog sat on one shoulder and a fishing pole was slung over the other. He approached the mailbox and dropped a letter in it.

"Mail's here!" he announced in a loud and goofy voice before wandering back into the forest.

A blue hedgehog with long quills and green eyes opened the door and zipped over to check the mailbox. Retrieving the letter, he zoomed back into the house. "Hey, Tails! We've got a letter from Princess Cream…" he announced in a mock-suggestive voice.

Tails, a yellow fox possessing sky-blue eyes and, interestingly, TWO tails (that he was swishing around in barely concealed excitement), entered the room to meet Sonic. "What does it say?" he asked.

"Heh! Here, I'll read it to you." Sonic opened the letter and swept his eyes over its contents. "All right, let's see…"

o-o-o

_Dear Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Tails Prower,_

_I'm throwing a party at my palace today, and I would be honored if you both could attend!_

_Many guests from distant towns are hoping to meet you._

_There will be tasty sweets and all kinds of games! I hope to see you here soon! xoxo_

_Sincerely,_

_Princess Cream the Rabbit_

o-o-o

A little later, Sonic and Tails went outside. The young fox cub began to twirl his two tails in circles: around and around and around until they spun so fast they lifted him off the ground! He grabbed up Sonic and the two began to fly in the general direction of Station Square…

ooo

"_I say, a fox that can fly?" _Oldie mused. _"I've seen much in my day, but that might be pushing it…"_

"_Now now, Oldie, this is Auntie's story," _Mammy reminded him. _"We're leaving the book behind, remember? Anything can happen at this point!"_

"And besides," the storyteller in question added, "there's always something in the world you haven't seen before." Nostalgic, she remembered the first time she came to Chao World. But that was a story for another day—she had to focus on the story she was telling right now.

"Let's keep going!"

ooo

Station Square was a large, spacious town with beige brick roads. There were many town squares, one of which held the train station that gave the town its name.

Sonic and Tails touched down at the nearest square. It had the local library, the dojo, and the western town gate among other things. But the two friends traveled past all these into the central square, and from there north through the large palace gate (a Chao's face emblazoned on its doors). A quick trip through the courtyard dotted with trees and sporting a sparkling fountain brought the duo to the large brown-and-beige palace, which they soon entered.

The Palais de Crème was the seat of power in the Chaos Kingdom, where Queen Vanilla the Rabbit ruled without a throne. The royal crest, which was displayed above the entrance and tiled into the first floor, seemed to best resemble a burst of light. Nobody could remember what it meant, but the image had been passed down for a very long time, and was hence still used.

The entrance hall was even grander than the town and the courtyard. The sky was painted on the walls, and there were many blue doors (bearing the royal crest) that led to many different rooms. A large red-carpeted staircase, flanked by guards and bouquets of flowers, rose from the tiles to the second floor—

ooo

Muscle yawned obnoxiously loudly. _"This is getting really freaking boring!" _he announced, waking up several of the other Chao from their doze and startling Auntie into stopping. _"Auntie, I thought you said there was going to be action!"_

Auntie gave an embarrassed giggle. "Right. Sorry, got a little caught up in the descriptions there, didn't I? So let's get to the exciting part, then…"

ooo

"What a badass palace!" Sonic exclaimed. "Man, I never get used to this place." He looked around. "It looks like lots of guests are already here."

He winked and nudged Tails. "Betcha Princess Cream's on the top floor."

The yellow fox blushed. "I guess we should go see her then?"

"More like you." Sonic winked again and gave a thumbs-up.

"A-all right," Tails stuttered, "Well… here goes, heh."

Some minutes later, the younger of the duo had traveled up a few floors and found the princess reclining against a column in a hallway.

"Oh, Tails!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "You came to the party to see me! You're so sweet!" She ran up to him—"Thank you!"—and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"I was just resting a bit," she continued as Tails blushed, "It gets tiring, greeting all those guests out there! Nobody will bother us here. Shall we relax and chat, just the two of us?"

"Sure!" replied the fox, whose blush faded. After all, the two had been good friends before he'd started crushing on her, and he always enjoyed just hanging out with her.

"It was a lovely day today, so I'm sure it's comfortable out on the balcony right now. Would you accompany me, Tails?" she asked. The fox nodded, and they were on their way—

ooo

Suddenly, there was a disturbance. Everyone sensed it: all of the Chao were awake now, and Auntie stopped telling the story. Muscle, while grateful for a break from all the mushy stuff, still wondered what was wrong.

Auntie immediately got up. _A disturbance of energy? …Could it be that someone finally found one of them? I'd better go check it out!_

"I'm going to see what's happening. All of you _stay in the garden,_" she announced with an enforcing tone.

The Chao obeyed as Oldie and Mammy worriedly kept them all together and away from the entrance, which Auntie passed through until she was out of sight.


	3. The Visitor

A/N: All right, here it is, the third chapter of _Chaos Chao and Good Wishes_!

But first, to answer Matthew's review: Ding ding ding! We've got a winner! Have a special chao-shaped e-cookie! …Of course, if the story is coming off ENTIRELY as a parody of Paper Mario, then I'm not doing this very well. '^_^

Suggestions from all of you on how to make this better are always welcome! Now let's go!

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Chapter 3

The Visitor

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Amy Rose saw white, and then…

She found herself floating in some sort of cylinder-like chamber within a chamber. Immediately above her was a painted pink spiral, and below her was what looked to be some sort of blue liquid goo stuff under a glassy barrier. The mini-chamber was being supported by four columns, within which she could see energy shooting and crackling.

Unfortunately, she only floated for a second before dropping onto the barrier. She fell to her knees and put her arms out for support—_bad idea, _she realized as she yelped and winced from the pain in her right arm. Using her left arm, she pushed herself up, exited the little chamber, and looked around.

The big chamber was mostly comprised of transparent glass. When she looked down, she could see a dark sky with blood-red clouds. Side to side were windows that offered a vista of stars, and looking up revealed a non-windowed dome over the whole place. The dome seemed to show the polar opposite of the sky under her—it depicted a sunny yellow and blue sky with fleecy-white clouds.

_Where am I? Am I in space? _Amy wondered. But then a voice called out to her.

"How did you get here?" it asked. "Oh! And who are you?" it then hastily added. It was a girl's voice, neither high nor low-pitched, and its tone was guarded, yet polite.

"My name is Amy Rose, and I have no idea how I got here," she answered, moving her right arm to strike a thoughtful pose out of habit but then instantly regretting it.

"You're… Amy Rose?" The voice sounded surprised, but then dismayed as its invisible (to Amy) owner noticed the wound in the hedgehog anthromorph's arm. "Goodness, you're hurt!"

"Ah… yeah," Amy responded, growing a bit weak from the pain.

"I'll be able to help. But first, you need to come with me to the Chao Garden."

"A Chao Garden? There's one here?" Then Amy saw its entrance: an opening flanked by two statues of regular baby Chao holding vases (with real flowers in them!), and columns in the shape of bones. The rest of the entryway was grey and rocky, with moss on some of the rocks.

"Go through that entrance, and you'll reach it," the voice instructed. "Don't worry, I'll be coming along too."

"Thanks… You know," Amy realized, "I never asked your name!"

"It's Auntie," the voice replied sweetly. "And it's wonderful to meet you."

"Same here!"

And with that, Amy passed through the entrance.

ooo

There was the blackness that Auntie was accustomed to when switching areas, and then the two arrived in the Chao Garden.

It was a nice place, the Chao Garden. Hemmed in on two sides by grey mountainous rock, it offered a stunning view of an endless blue ocean on the opposite side. The ground itself was carpeted with lush green grass, and palm trees carrying luscious (for Chao) yellow fruit were dotted around the area.

What was most important in this instance, however, was the fourth side. Over there was a small series of cylinder-shaped cliffs where a sparkling clear waterfall with a hint of blue cascaded all around the center one. The waterfall barely concealed another cave just behind it in the cliff, but where that entrance led wasn't relevant right now.

No, the small pond at the bottom of the waterfall was where Amy needed to go—its water had a peculiar healing power that, even though Auntie had been here a long time, was still a mystery to her.

Immediately on their appearance, the Chao noticed them, an "!" expression forming on the emotion balls above their heads (as well as their faces).

"_Auntie!" _they all cried out in dishamorny as they saw her. Of course, to Amy, this came out as typical Chao babble.

"Aww, Chao! How cute…" Amy cooed without much of her usual excitement. Her arm was beginning to hurt pretty badly.

Auntie grimaced. "The water in that pond over there can heal you. Will you be able to reach it?"

"Yup!" Amy said with peppiness that wasn't entirely forced. She might be hurt, but she had never been one for giving up!

So she hurried as fast as her injured self could over to the pond. Auntie followed her, even though she was still invisible to the pink hedgehog.

"All right, I'm here! Now what?" Amy asked as she stared in the direction she estimated the owner of the voice was.

"Drop all of the items you've collected," Auntie instructed, "and dip your injured arm in the water."

"Hmm… okay…" The anthromorph pulled out her hammer and all the gem capsules she'd collected, dropped them on the ground, and promptly kneeled, sticking her wound in the nice, refreshing-looking water.

Suddenly, she felt a cool, tingly feeling in her arm as she saw its wound begin to heal up. "Whoa! What's going—" Then she felt it spread from her arm to her entire body.

"Gosh…" It was an exhilarating feeling, but inexplicably familiar. Somehow, it reminded her of home, and running… and Sonic.

It left, and Amy was wide-eyed as she pulled her arm out of the water. "What happened?"

She looked around as if for answers, but instead she saw all the Chao in the garden huddled in a semicircle around her, the Piko Piko Hammer, and those gem capsules, staring with wide eyes.

The healing had gone better than expected, but Auntie was shocked about something else—did that other girl suddenly gain Chaos Potential before her very eyes? _And if so, how?_ So Auntie attempted to break the silence gracefully by "hmm"-ing and asking if Amy was okay.

"Yeah… I'm more than okay, actually," Amy answered, surprised, and then smiled. "I'm feeling really great! Thank you so much!" she enthused.

"It's- it's okay," Auntie stammered, still surprised herself, but then smiled back (even though Amy couldn't see it). "By which I mean, you're welcome!"

Amy laughed, but then became thoughtful. "Auntie, can you tell me what happened? I felt this weird feeling in my arm while it was healing up, and then through my entire body…"

Auntie was silent as she thought hard.

"I guess you don't know either, huh?" the pink hedgehog realized, and paused for a moment. "Well, my arm's healed up, and like I said before, I feel really great!" She got up, spun in a circle, and then pumped her fist. "I should be A-okay!"

"Well, if you're feeling better, that's good to hear," the other responded.

"Yeah!" Was it a trick of the light, Amy wondered, or was there a faint blue glow now where Auntie's voice was coming from? "And now…" Amy became determined. "I can go back to where I was and help Sonic!"

"…With what?" Auntie asked curiously, then frowned. "It doesn't have anything to do with that horrible wound your arm had, does it?"

"Well… it does. But I'm not going to let that stop me!"

Curiosity blended into dread as Auntie began to understand what was going on. "Were you…" she picked her words carefully, "were you two fighting someone?"

"Well, um… kinda." Amy realized that she PROBABLY shouldn't have said so much—even though Auntie seemed nice, the hedgehog anthromorph didn't want to blow her and her friends' cover, accidentally involve Auntie and her Chao, or worse. But then again, there were few ways you could explain a gunshot wound to the arm.

The Chao, who had begun to slightly calm down, began to freak out again and their eyes grew wide. A real fight! It was one thing to hear of it in stories that weren't real, but hearing of one that actually happened was incredibly scary!

Of course, most of the hatchlings, having little understanding of regular tongues, had no idea what was going on, but some of the older Chao covered their friends' ears anyway. Mammy was among those, trying to shield as many of the hatchlings' ears as Chao-ly possible.

"_Auntie," _Oldie suggested quickly, _"you should probably hear our visitor's tale away from the rest of us."_

"_Right." _Auntie nodded seriously at the older Chao and turned to Amy, who had somehow gotten a vague understanding the two were talking about her and not scaring the Chao. "If you don't mind, could you walk with me a bit? I'd like to hear your story—"

"But Sonic needs me!"

"—so I know what I can do." Auntie finished. Before Amy could say another word, "You won't even know how to get out of here until I know how to help," she added.

The pink hedgehog was downcast, and kicked her foot at nothing in particular. "Darn!" She looked up pleadingly at that faint bright light. "Then we'll need to do this really fast!"

"You can count on it," Auntie reassured. "Here, let's head over to that small cliff." She set off for it; Amy picked up her hammer and followed behind, but in her haste she left the gem capsules floating above the ground.


	4. The Visitor's Tale

Amy's red boots padded on the soft green grass as she walked along the edge of the pond with Auntie's bright light ahead of her.

"Amy Rose," the (to Amy) incorporeal Auntie began, "first… this Sonic, who is he?" _He's probably who I think he is… but we'll see._

It wasn't very long until the two reached the cliffs, and both hopped up onto the shortest one. "Well, Sonic is the most special person in the world to me!" Amy answered.

"Why is that?"

"Huh?"

ooo

Chapter 4

A Visitor's Tale

ooo

"I mean, why is Sonic the most special?" Auntie asked, curious. But then: "Forgive me, I'm asking something rather personal…"

"It's okay!" Amy reassured. "I'm happy to answer these questions, especially if it'll help Sonic!" She swung her legs over the side and perched on the ledge, getting a dreamy expression. "Well… he saved my life."

"Goodness!" the faint light exclaimed. She looked Amy up and down—a young pink hedgehog anthromorph with short-cropped quills, on which rested a red headband. Her boots and the long clothes peeking from under her ratty brown overcoat were also red, and the typical white anthromorph gloves completed the ensemble. Long clothes… Auntie supposed that this wouldn't be an unusual appearance for any other young girl in winter, but two things struck her: Why did this Amy look different from the one she'd seen in her dreams, the one who wore that red dress no matter what…_ and judging by the fashion in both instances, just how MUCH time_ _has passed on Earth?_

Of course, to get that information without completely messing up the plan, she would have to be very careful indeed. Even though she had a little clue as to how Sonic had saved Amy, she couldn't rule out that this Amy's past had played out very differently than the one she'd dreamed.

So she started out by making the cautiously neutral observation of "That must have been very brave of him."

"It was!" Amy exclaimed and threw her arms out in the air. "You should have SEEN it, Auntie! It was a few years ago: there I was, falling to certain doom from high up, and Sonic swoops in and rescues me!" There were practically little pink hearts in her eyes as she sighed and clasped her hands. "And he's not just brave, either… he's funny, and kind, and smart, and…"

Auntie chuckled. "Well, it sounds like he's an amazing person, Amy. Where did you guys meet?"

"Well… he, our friend Tails, and I were all in the same refugee camp when we were little."

"A refugee camp?" _Very different indeed. _"Why were you there?" She frowned.

At that Amy became downcast. "Our homes were likely destroyed by the Empire."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that… which empire was it?"

The pink hedgehog raised an eyebrow at Auntie and stated, "There's only one Empire."

The light was silent. _Hmm… is she referring to some form of the GUN? That would certainly explain what happened._

"Although I guess," Amy continued, "you could call GUN an empire of sorts too… At least that's what Tails says."

_Well, so much for that. _"The Empire… why did it destroy your homes?"

"There was a rebellion that started in our region, and when it was defeated, Robotnik destroyed our villages in retaliation." Amy looked down and away. "That's what all the adults told us…"

_Robotnik?_ The girl's heart fell into her stomach and her hands flew up to her mouth._ As an emperor? …No, this couldn't have happened! This wasn't supposed to happen!_

There was silence, and then Amy realized that Auntie hadn't said anything for a while. She gazed at her again and saw that the faint light had dimmed to where she couldn't see it anymore. Or had she gone somewhere? "Auntie?" she asked. "Are you there?"

"…Yes." the other girl responded sadly, and from the sound of it, a bit choked up. "I… I'm sorry. I just… I don't know," she admitted.

"Auntie!" Amy alarmedly exclaimed. "It's okay!" She moved to hug Auntie before realizing that the other girl was simply a small ball of light (that, at the moment, she couldn't even see).

(Of course, Auntie was more than light, but Amy wasn't to know that right now.)

"It's okay," the hedgehog repeated. "It happened a long time ago, and I was too young to remember it. Besides," she smiled, "even though a lot of us had suffered so much, the camp was a nice place with lots of nice people. It was in a nice place too! Westside Island." There were many fond memories associated with that island that she'd love to share, but it'd probably be best for Auntie right now if the anthromorph didn't wind up telling her what happened at the end of those good times.

_Westside Island… glad to see that something's still the same. _The other girl wiped the few tears that had already pricked up and tried to smile. _But is Dr. Eggman really...? _She shook her head—contemplation could come later. It was obvious that this Earth was a lot more chaotic and violent than she'd ever considered it would be; it was also obvious that this Amy and Sonic were likely in a hairier situation than she'd first considered.

She looked Amy over once again. The very faint glow of newly acquired (or awakened?) Chaos Potential still resided within the hedgehog, but from what she'd seen for the past few minutes, it didn't look like anything weird was going to happen to her because of it. Auntie would've preferred to observe the hedgehog for longer to make sure, and to know more about what was happening on Earth. But it was obvious that keeping her here while her beloved was in danger, even if time passed differently here, wouldn't be very fair to Amy.

The light glowed again. "Amy, I think I see why you… are so attached to Sonic," she began. "I want you to know that I'll do whatever I can to help you two. It's a promise."

_Huh… I didn't really say much, but I guess my love for Sonic is just so strong it shines through anyway! _A smile broke out on Amy's face. "Auntie, that's so sweet of you! Thank you!" She then became serious. "So, could you please tell me how I can get back to Sonic?"

"Of course!" Auntie answered with determination. "I'll need to ask a few more questions, but we can talk while we walk right back out to the Chao Lobby. That's where you'll be able to exit Chao World and return to Earth."

ooo

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, all the Chao were still gathered around the floating gem capsules of various colors. Now that they'd recovered from the shock of hearing about a real-life fight, they babbled and stared in wonder at the hovering objects.

Calm, who'd been the closest of the group to the spot where Auntie and their visitor sat, shuffled over to Clev. He was often very quiet, but a very good listener. It was for this reason that Clev had asked him to eavesdrop on the two girls so the storyteller could find out just what in the world was going on!

"…_The girl that came in with Auntie is named Amy," _Calm whispered. _"She's from Earth."_

Clev nearly made an exclamation point with her yellow emotion ball, but was able to reign herself in at the last minute. From Earth! The Chao had no idea that ANYONE from Earth could come here—the only things they knew about it were what Auntie told them, and she hadn't been outside of Chao World since before they were born! _"What else?" _

"_She likes this guy named Sonic, too… Auntie seems to think it'll be true though, I can tell."_

"_I see," _Clev was skeptical about the "trueness" of a lot of that mushy stuff to begin with, so she steered the conversation towards more important areas such as, _"What of the fight? Every good story needs some sort of action or conflict."_

The other Chao had been scared to listen to the things that made Auntie so sad, but nobody could say that he wasn't… "stoic" was the word that Auntie used, wasn't it? So Calm put on a brave face. _"Amy wasn't the one who started the fight,"_ he reported. Clev gave a sigh of relief; there would be something actually comforting for the hatchlings in this story after all. _Of course, if I was solely aiming for comfort, then I wouldn't be telling this story, _she reminded herself.

"_It was someone else called… Robotnik, I think," _Calm continued, _"There was something else about Amy and Sonic's homes getting destroyed by this Robotnik person too. It made Auntie cry." _The younger Chao clenched his fists. It was one of the rare times he got angry enough to show it.

"_I'll… leave that last part out of the story, I believe," _Clev wisely decided through her shock as she grasped her trusty brown storybook (that she carried around with her everywhere) just a bit more. If Auntie had _cried_ and _Calm_ was getting angry, then there was no telling how everyone else was going to react. It was one thing to get into fisticuffs, but it was another thing to destroy someone's home entirely. _"Anything else?"_

Calm simply unclenched his rigid fists and shook his head.

"_Alright then," _Clev resolved as she patted her fellow Chao's blue head. Calm was the youngest of the Elder Chao (as they were called by the hatchlings) and he was just beginning to grow a mustache like Oldie's, oddly enough. It was still small and faint, though, and other than that he looked pretty typical for a Chao that could walk. Clev herself, being the second-youngest, also looked really similar (minus the mustache), but had pouty lips and rosy cheeks that she took pride in. (Missy didn't take kindly to her "attitude" about those things, but Missy's taste never counted for much in her book… literally, at times.)

"_Hear hear!" _she announced as she waved her small brown tome over the heads and emotion balls of the crowd. _"I have a story to tell!"_

A story, a story! Many of the Chao brightened their expressions and began to turn their attention to the storyteller's words.

…All except two, that is. School and Muscle, an unlikely pair, were intently studying the capsules that rotated and hovered above the ground.

School leaned as close as he could without touching the objects, lifting up his large round glasses so he could get a more detailed look at them. These capsules came in four colors—green, red, purple, and yellow. They radiated light in these colors, and if one looked closely, they could see little gem shards in them.

A strange power also seemed to emanate from them… it felt like the Chaos Energy that surrounded the Chao, but all knotted up into a ball.

Of course, Muscle was far more heedless of the scientific method than School was, so he walked right up to a green one and reached out to poke it.

School grabbed his hand and shoved it away. _"What in the WORLD are you doing? You can't just go up and touch something you know nothing about!"_

"_Yeah I can," _Muscle responded cheekily. _"Look! I'll do it right now!" _And he firmly grabbed the green container.

Suddenly, the capsule gave off a bright burst of light and Chaos Energy, felt by everyone in the garden—including Amy. "…Huh? What was that weird feeling?" she wondered.

_Uh oh. _"It's a discharge of Chaos Energy… Oh goodness!" Auntie exclaimed as she jumped off the cliff and ran over to the Chao, who all swiveled their heads away from Clev to look at School and Muscle. Amy followed straight behind, and all of them saw something peculiar…


	5. The Visitor's Departure

A/N: Okay, as promised, here's the wrapup chapter for Amy's visit to Chao World.

RuningWitSizorz: Thank you so much for your review! :D Unfortunately, as I just announced, I still need to get Amy back to _Rolling Around at the Speed of Sound _first before I can resume Auntie's enhanced bedtime story—which I'm beginning to miss working on, so never fear! The "real story" will begin soon.

Now onwards!

ooo

There was a flash of green light, sparkles that floated and surrounded him and faded away as quickly as they came, and then Muscle felt a surge of power throughout his body—it felt like what he and the others had sensed from the hedgehog girl whose arm got healed in the pond, except now he was feeling it himself. The feeling was like the sensation of speed in some weird way… and it was really cool!

The blue Chao finally re-noticed School next to him, whose glasses were pushed up onto his forehead and his bushy eyebrows even higher as he gaped at Muscle. Then he saw all his other fellow Chao staring at him, and then turned to see Auntie frantically running towards him.

_Auntie's worried about me! _Muscle realized. _I've gotta let her know I'm okay! _So he tried to walk over to her as quickly as he could, but then something VERY odd happened. His legs began to move really fast, and then lifted him a bit off the ground as he moved forward! _"Whoa!" _He was so startled that he tripped, sailor hat nearly falling off his head, before Auntie caught him as they met.

Auntie's eyebrows also raised a bit as she noticed, besides the fact that Muscle could now _run_, that there was an increase in Muscle's Chaos Energy. It was small, but still a larger increase in a shorter amount of time than the normal development in all the Chao here.

"_Whoa!" _Muscle exclaimed again as he looked up at his savior. _"Auntie, that was SO COOL! I was going really fast, and I went off the ground too! I've never walked that way before!"_

"That's because you didn't walk just then, Muscle," Auntie said curiously, and smiled at the Chao's enthusiasm. "You ran." _Fascinating. _She became relieved that nothing bad had happened—and curious as to what was ACTUALLY going on.

ooo

Chapter 5

The Visitor's Departure

ooo

"_I RAN?"_ Muscle's eyes seemed to grow almost as wide as the nuts on the nearby palm trees. _"Whoa…"_

All the other Chao were surprised, and began to murmur amongst themselves. Amy was also surprised—how did Auntie, a faint ball of light, catch the falling Chao? More importantly, how did she herself feel that… what did the other girl call it? A discharge of Chaos Energy?

And… did she just kinda get the gist of what that Chao with the blue emotion ball was saying? (She'd never really been able to figure out what Chao were saying other than when they made some gestures.)

Something about being able to run for the first time… come to think of it, none of the Chao here seemed to be able to run except for the one who just gained the ability. That was exceedingly odd, seeing as there were Chao races in the places where they were kept as pets all the time! And this was one of those… right? Was it just really far away from everywhere else? Or was it even on Earth at all?

"Muscle, how did this happen?" Auntie asked curiously, her mind whirring. At the blue Chao's look of guilt she added, "Don't worry, you won't get in trouble." _Although I'll have to keep a close eye on you for the time being. _"But I need to know what happened."

"_Well…"_ Muscle remembered for a bit. _"There was a big flash of green light, and then I was able to run!"_

"But what happened before that?" Auntie asked patiently.

"_He touched one of these strange glowing… things," _School cut in, exasperated both at Muscle's insufficient explanation and his own inability to name precisely what these objects of study were.

_Hmm…_ Auntie looked up to see the floating capsules and immediately recognized them as… _Chaos Drives?_

The whole thing suddenly made sense: Chaos Drives were developed to transfer Chaos Energy to living tissue. So, Muscle had suddenly gotten the power to run from an influx of this energy. _Well, at least I'm pretty sure of what's going on now. Phew! Muscle should definitely be okay then. I should've noticed them, though—but I guess I've been too preoccupied with Amy._

_Speaking of which, hmm. I haven't seen these in Chao World before… _she looked over at her hedgehog guest. _Did Amy bring these in with her?_

"Um…" Auntie had to be very careful how she proceeded, or she might give away more than she'd intended. "Are these yours?"

But simultaneously: "Auntie, where is Chao World, exactly?" Amy asked.

Then they both apologized.

"Oh!"

"Whoops! My bad!"

Then at once: "Here, you go—" They both cut off, and then Auntie giggled.

"Looks like you owe me a soda."

"Hey, I know that joke!" Amy smiled as she held up a finger. Then she put her other hand on her hip and struck a pose. "An oldie but goodie!"

The other girl smiled: The hedgehog was being so nice to her, and somewhat trusted her too, even though she barely knew anything about who Auntie was… _I think I can return her trust, _she decided. _But there's one more thing I need to know so I can figure out which information to divulge when._

The opportunity for that came a second later as the Chao's caretaker let go of Muscle, who shot an irritated glance at School and then began to show his new running skills to an amazed crowd of his fellows.

"But like I asked before," Amy continued, "Where is this place? When I showed up here, I was in this giant room with windows, and outside there were stars… Am I in space?"

"You're not in space, and I'll tell you where you actually are in a bit," Auntie reassured, "but I need to know something first."

"Okay, shoot!"

"These," she gestured to the Chaos Drives, "are yours, correct?"

"Well, I kinda just picked them up from…" Amy considered the possibilities in her head: Wherever this place was, it was definitely isolated from the outside world—the Chao didn't know how to run, and from the sound of it, Auntie hadn't known they could run either.

_Well… that and the fact that Auntie's just a faint light—she's obviously not human or anthromorph. Plus there's that weird water that healed up my arm and apparently gave me some sort of sixth sense about Chaos Energy… I've seen things that're just as weird, though, so this isn't too much of an issue. All right then, I'll tell her!_

"…Er, well, I got them from robots that Sonic and I were fighting," she admitted.

"You were fighting robots?" _Hm! Looks like things really can't keep those two down here, either. _The other girl smiled in relief. _Glad to see that my dreams weren't inaccurate on their personalities at least. So she got the Chaos Drives from robots… they must be using them as power sources now. But are they Robotnik's—don't think about that—or are they GUN's?_ "Why?"

"Well…" And then Amy told the rest of her story.

About how Robotnik eventually conquered Westside Island, and she, the fox Miles Prower (nicknamed Tails), and Sonic the Hedgehog were forced to flee in Tails' first rickety plane he'd ever built, which Sonic affectionately named the Tornado. How they became a small band of rebels, moving from island to island until they finally settled on South Island, which never stayed in place for long either; it was perfect for anyone wanting to be constantly on the move. Then how Tails learned of a plan by GUN to move an important weapon through the heart of Capital City (where nobody would think of attacking it... except them, of course). And finally, how she and Sonic busted out the weapon, who turned out to be another hedgehog called Shadow.

Auntie was silent during the whole story, deceptively calm this time as she took in all the information.

"…And then after we found Shadow and were about to leave, I got shot, grabbed this weird key I'd found earlier and then ended up here," Amy finished. "Which is why I've gotta get back and help Sonic, Auntie!" she pleaded. "Please, help!"

"…Of course!" Auntie replied as she got to her feet. "We'll leave the garden right away." She waved at the Chao. "Say goodbye to Amy, everyone!"

Muscle stopped in his tracks as he and the other Chao turned to wave farewell to their visitor.

"Oh! Sunset's coming, so the hatchlings will need to go to bed soon… and don't touch those gem capsules until I get back," their caretaker added sternly. She gave a pointed look at School, who backed off and gave the objects a respectful distance like all his fellow Chao.

"I could just take them with me," Amy suggested. "Tails would probably like to study them and figure out what they are."

"Hmm… that's actually a good idea," the other girl realized, moving her light towards the Chaos Drives. _It'll be useful for them to find out the nature of Chaos Drives—Tails could probably use them in more of his experiments. _"Go ahead and gather them up!"

Amy complied, the Chao looking at her curiously as she did so and then waving to her again as she and Auntie left the Garden.

ooo

On re-entering the Lobby, Amy was able to see the mini-chamber she'd first wound up in at a different angle—its top was shaped like the top of a Chao's head, even down to the emotion ball at its point. Around this circled the metal-wrought word "Exit."

"Hmm, is everything around here Chao themed?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Auntie answered. "This is Chao World—it's a pocket dimension where Chao live and play in peace."

"A pocket dimension?" the hedgehog girl exclaimed in surprise. "Tails would talk about alternate dimensions and all that, but it was just supposed to be a theory… Then again," she snapped her fingers as they kept walking towards the mini-chamber, "most people don't even know that the Chaos Emeralds exist, so I guess this kinda makes sense…"

_Hmm, this is new too. _Auntie once again filed this information for later.

"…but still, how did I get here?" Amy finished.

"Did you happen to find a Chao Key? They're shaped like Chao, and they come in blue boxes with Chao silhouettes on them—they're scattered all across Earth, but usually in the most unlikely places."

"Oh, so _that's _what it was!" The hedgehog reached for the key, but then realized it wasn't there. "Hey, where'd it go?"

"They transport you to Chao World and then disappear after they're used," Auntie explained. "Also, they can be activated in times of need—the situation you were in certainly counts, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah… so if the Chao Key brought me here, then how am I supposed to get back? I get that I should PROBABLY go to the chamber that has 'exit' written above it, but what do I do from there?"

Auntie gestured with her light towards the mini-chamber. "Stand in the exit chamber and I'll tell you what to do."

Amy did so, and faced Auntie. "Now what?"

"Focus on where you want to go," the blue light instructed.

So Amy imagined the piecemeal airship she and her friends called Command—Tails had built it from whatever parts they could find, so it wasn't exactly the best ship around, but they took good care of it and it (usually) worked when they needed it to. The yellow fox had parked it in a valley a few dozen miles from Capital City, and she knew the exact location, which was really helpful.

Suddenly, rings of blue light began to surround Amy and move from bottom to top. "Whoa!" Amy exclaimed.

"Stay focused," Auntie instructed. "And remember, whenever you want to come back, just use a Chao Key! We'll be happy to have you back anytime." She smiled.

"Will do!" Amy smiled as well and gave a thumbs-up. "Thanks so much for everything, and see you later!"

The rings of light moved faster and faster until the whole mini-chamber shone brilliantly—and then when the light faded, Amy was gone.

Auntie's smile turned sad as she regarded everything she'd heard from her new hedgehog friend. She needed to know more.

The girl walked towards the mini-chamber. She was aware that she wouldn't be able to return to Earth, but she might be able to see what was going on from Chao World… _and I know who I need to follow, too._

_It looks like the wheels are starting to turn… my plan should start as well._


	6. Eggman Takes the Palais de Creme

_"And we'll all make it through, Amy. I'll prove it to you."_

ooo

Auntie returned to the Garden at sunset to find a large gaggle of alert Chao awaiting her. Not a one of them slept or even looked sleepy. Muscle swiftly started towards her but then halted before Oldie's outstretched arm.

"Auntie, where have you been for so long?" the elder Chao asked.

"Yes!" Mammy said with concern. "Most of us were starting to worry about you!"

"Oh, but you shouldn't worry! I was relaxing people with my singing!" Missy chimed.

Clev haughtily cut into the conversation—"I'm pretty sure everyone thought Muscle's running was more interesting."—with a sideways look at Muscle, who puffed his chest with pride. Missy glared and stuck her tongue out at both of them.

"All of you, please."

Everyone turned to Auntie, who seemed tired but at the same time relieved. Why was she feeling either way, though? Oldie knew it must have something to do with their mysterious guest who'd just left. After all, even though she and Auntie had gotten along great, the hedgehog _had _been in a fight. That probably meant trouble.

Sensing his concern, the Chao's caretaker started reassuring everyone. "I have been very busy making sure Amy's okay," she said. "And I can _definitely _say she's okay now."

_But for how long? _Auntie added in her head as the Chao relaxed. Their guest had indeed reunited with Sonic and Tails before all three escaped to South Island with a Chaos Emerald that Amy had neglected to mention in her rapid-fire paced story. It was likely that her desire to protect Auntie and the Chao had more to do with that omission than anything else, which was completely understandable to the guardian.

She'd emerged from the chamber at Sonic's promise to Amy—at the end of all of it, everyone would be okay. Unfortunately, nobody knew what "it" was except Auntie, and even then the future could only be calculated to an extent. However, she knew that Sonic would do his darndest to make his promise a reality.

But even though her thoughts were moving at a blazing pace themselves, she had a garden of Chao to attend to right now.

So she brought her hands together. "That means we can continue our story!"

The Chao all cheered and clapped their hands back.

"Where did we leave off?" The storyteller thought and put a finger to her chin. When she remembered, she winked at Muscle. "Ah yes! We were just about to get to the exciting part!"

Muscle pumped his fist and then proceeded to sit down with everyone else after Mammy gave him a quick reminder.

Auntie herself kneeled on the grass, took a breath, and jumped back in.

ooo

Chapter 6

Eggman Takes the Palais de Crème

ooo

The fox nodded, and they were on their way—

But were suddenly startled when everything to shake! Cream jumped in surprise and turned her head this way and that to figure out just what was going on. This had never happened here before!

Meanwhile, the green and perfectly manicured trees surrounding the palace collapsed onto their sides when the ground heaved up… and then split open! A grey dome-looking thing rose up under the Palais de Crème, lifting it into the air.

The castle rose higher and higher as the fox and princess frantically ran around trying to escape. Tails bolted to the door only to find that the door was, well… "It's bolted shut with some weird robotic lock," he said, "and it's not letting me unlock it! We can't get out!"

Cream looked out the windows to see the skies growing darker and darker and the clouds moving… down?

ooo

They didn't know it, but the Palais de Crème was now sitting on a giant steel sphere—a space fortress! But it wasn't _just _a sphere. Oh no, it was adorned with a triangular command bridge that looked like a nose, an array spreading from that which looked very much like a moustache, hangar bay doors under them which looked like a menacing grin of teeth, and two circular pits located above all of them on the sphere that each possessed a circle of glowing yellow light at their center… which made the pits look like piercing eyes.

Looked at all together, the sphere resembled a very familiar face…

ooo

When the shaking stopped, Cream and Tails also halted their search and then rushed over to each other.

"Oh! Are you all right, Tails?" the rabbit asked. "What in the world was that?"

"I'm okay, Cream," Tails replied. Noticing her general state of freakout, he moved to give her a hug (disregarding his usual nervousness about doing so) but was then interrupted when Cream looked out the window and jumped.

"Oh my! Look, Tails!" The rabbit pointed at the window. "It's still daytime, isn't it?" Then she looked at Tails with a scared expression. "…But I can see stars outside!"

Suddenly, before the boy could figure out what was going on, two figures crashed through the window, forcing Tails to quickly shelter Cream from the glass flying everywhere. Fortunately, neither was hurt, but when they looked at the two literal gate-crashers they found themselves facing a far larger threat.

Both new arrivals were robots, one of which looked _very _familiar—in fact, Tails was pretty sure that the smaller was Metal Sonic, a robotic duplicate of Sonic that the hedgehog and fox had fought in many past battles against Dr. Eggman. And he also knew that whenever one of Eggman's robots showed up, it definitely had to do with one of the Doctor's latest schemes!

Sure enough, the other one's design smacked of Eggman. It was a pretty formidable one, too. The robot towered over Tails and Cream; it had four giant feet and legs that held up the cockpit. Taken all together, it looked like a giant mechanical spider.

The cockpit then opened… to reveal none other than Dr. Eggman himself!

"Ohhh ho ho ho ho ho!" he cackled. "Long time no see, Princess Cream!"

The rabbit's mouth, which had dropped open in surprise, began to work again. "…Dr. Eggman!" she exclaimed. "But this can't be! Sonic and Tails defeated you soundly in your last battle!" She then realized: "It was you who made the ground shake just now, wasn't it! Whatever did you do?"

Eggman let out a roaring laugh with multiple instances of the phrase "oh ho ho ho!" Meanwhile, Tails was really scared for two reasons. For one, where was Sonic? Was he okay?

For two: How in the heck was he going to defend Cream and defeat this giant robot without Sonic's help!?

"Yes, that was I!" the villain continued. "It was I who lifted your castle up into the sky! It's now sitting on top of my _magnificent _fortress, the Death Egg! Weren't expecting that, were you?"

"Ha!" He made a sweeping gesture with his arm and began to monologue. "This castle's under my control now, my dear! Now you will obey ME!"

"I'm not scared, I'm not scared!" Tails whispered to himself under his breath. He darted in front of Cream, crouching into a fighting position.

"Oh!? What? It's… Tails! What a shock!" Eggman mocked. "I expected you to turn up, right on cue. But hmm…" The Doctor noticed the absence of an important figure. "Where's the main hero of the day, Sonic? It looks like you're stuck without your partner," he said with malicious glee. "You'll only be half as annoying as before, and unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about what's going to happen anyway. Behold, my magnificent creation: the Egg Walker!"

"Haven't you learned your lesson by now, Dr. Eggman? You can never defeat the good guys!" Cream insisted. "Can't you just make amends and live in harmony with us?"

"True, true, I have had my problems in the past… But this time is different! This time I shall be victorious!"

"No way! I'm not gonna let you hurt Cream or anybody else!" Tails exclaimed. "I'm going to beat you, Dr. Eggman!"

Eggman smirked. "Okay, tough guy! Let's go!"

ooo

A/N: Oh my GOD, guys, I'm so sorry this took so long. So much other stuff got in the way… but I'm back in the fandom, and hopefully for a long time. I also hope that everyone has been doing well, and I'll see you around! Thanks for reading!


	7. End of the Prelude

A/N: Sheesh, my shortest chapter to date for such a long wait. =/ I'll do my best to increase my productivity, guys!

ooo

The cockpit closed and the Egg Walker shifted into battle mode.

"Tails, you can do it!" Princess Cream clasped her white-gloved hands together.

"I'll do my best!" Tails nodded before regarding the machine before him.

All the strategies he'd planned for fights with Eggman would be useless right now; Sonic wasn't here to tag-team the Doctor with him! He didn't have any items, either...

So the only thing he could do was a full-on attack!

ooo

Chapter 7

End of the Prelude

ooo

Jumping up, he curled into a ball and struck the cockpit. The Walker shook and rattled but immediately lunged one foot forward. It slammed down right next to where Tails landed and sent out a shockwave that knocked the fox onto his back.

Cream was able to avoid it and hover in the air by flapping her enormous ears. She gasped once she saw that Tails had been hit.

"I'm okay, Cream!" he reassured. Getting up, he was forced to dodge the next robotic stomp by curling up again and rolling away; but as he escaped, he bounced straight into another of the Walker's feet, and…

The foot crumpled under the blow, and Eggman's machine listed to one side. Tails saw his opportunity and once again hit the cockpit straight on!

The Egg Walker righted itself… slowly. It was then Tails realized that the more he damaged the feet, the slower the robot would recover from the attacks! So he kept on with that strategy; dealing them harder blows by swinging his two tails at their weakest points and then hitting the cockpit once the machine wobbled.

After a few rounds of this, Eggman opened the cockpit to begin another monologue. "Ah yes, Tails, always fighting… You and that blasted hedgehog have been a constant thorn in my side. But today, your patheticlittle attacks won't beat me!"

The fox whirled to stand in front of the Princess. What could the villain be planning?

Suddenly, the underside of Eggman's robot opened to reveal…

"Take a look at this! Look what I stole from Chao Haven!"

A giant green gem sparkled in the compartment. And as a matter of fact…

"It's the Master Emerald!" the Doctor crowed. "This jewel has the power to grant any wish in the entire world. And when I use this Emerald to increase the Egg Walker's power, even _Sonic_ will never beat me!"

He pressed a button. Light erupted from the gem as bands of energy began to whirl around it. When it dimmed and the rabbit and fox unshielded their eyes, they saw the Egg Walker slowly repairing itself, now glowing a rainbow hue.

Missile launchers then popped up near the cockpit and fired at the two! Tails pushed Cream out of the way and took the full brunt of the attack as a result. He limped up as Cream yelled his name in fear, and both knew that he was in danger.

He put his all into a last jump at the cockpit. The hit landed, but Tails bounced off without leaving even a crack in the cockpit's now (infinitely?) energy-reinforced glass.

"Ohh ho ho ho ho ho!" came the pilot's taunt. "Is that all you've got! How sad! You'd best take some vitamins, because that didn't hurt at all!"

_I'm not going to give up now! Cream needs me! _Tails thought. But the feet proved to be undentable as well.

"Yes…" Eggman said triumphantly, "Just as I expected! That little fox is nomatchfor the new me." He popped open the cockpit and leered over the edge. "It's not even worth my time to toy with you anymore… so it's time to finish this! Here we go, _Tails_. Get a load of this!" He punched another button with a malevolent grin.

The empty missile launchers combined into a laser cannon, and when it fired in a sweeping arc, it dealt a knockout blow to Tails! Cream covered her eyes as the fox spun around and landed hard on the carpeted floor. She raced over and kneeled down to see if he was okay; which, of course, he wasn't—he had lost consciousness.

"Oh no! Tails! You _must _get up!" she cried.

"Ha ha ha ha HA!" Eggman laughed. "Yes, YES! I finally did it! I got one of them! It may not have been _Sonic_, but this one will do, yesss."

After watching the battle silently, Metal Sonic spoke up for the first time. "Congratulations on your victory, master. This is why you are number one."

"As long as I have the Master Emerald, everything I wish will come true! No one will be able to stop me!" The Doctor turned to regard the children. "Well, well, well… I guess I might as well get rid of Tails. He's no good to anyone _now_, that's for sure."

He activated the jewel and it shone with a blinding brightness. Suddenly, a lightning bolt appeared and struck Tails, blasting him straight out the window of the castle!

His body flew up before falling in a downward arc past the Death Egg into the abyss below.

"Oh, no!" the Princess cried. As Eggman laughed and Metal Sonic ordered Egg Pawns into the room, she dashed to the window and saw the fox fall farther and farther away…

"TAAAAIIIILLLLS!"

ooo

"…Down and down he fell, down through stars that twinkled colors of all sorts, until at last he disappeared into the clouds."

The storyteller paused at the end for dramatic effect.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Muscle exclaimed. "_That_ was an AWESOME battle!"

"But what happened to Tails?" Missy asked with worry. "It sounds like he fell an awfully long way… Will he be okay?"

Auntie laid a hand on the Chao's head. "Don't worry. Tails still has a lot of great things to do."

The other smiled. "Good. I'm glad!"

Turning to Oldie and Mammy, the girl nodded and they nodded back. It was a long day, and she was a bit weary. But things were just beginning. And like Tails, she still had a lot left to do.

As she watched them herd the Chao to bed (with occasional cries along the lines of "Stop running, Muscle! It's bedtime, so you need to calm down!" from Mammy) she looked up at the darkening sky.

"When the figure falls from the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods is joined, all that exists will become one again…"


End file.
